Well, I just like swimming, it was one of those mornings where although I feel I was swimming very slowly it was nonetheless quite lovely... there is something about the particular perfection of the pressure of water on skin that is extremely physiologically enjoyable, makes you feel as though you have dolphin hide instead of regular old human skin, I like it!
Warmup: 300 free, 200 kick
Main set:
Hmmm, let me see if I can reconstruct. Not an exciting one, though definitely enjoyable. I only got partway down the list (team practice started right at 7), I was making a mental note as I left: "Five things, it is only five things, you can remember five things..."
3 x 150 (75 back, 75 free)
4 x 100 free
2 x 200 free
2 x 100 (50 drill, 50 choice: I did catch-up, zipper drill with salute/forehead swipe, fly, back)
2 x 150 (75 breast, 75 free)
Further thoughts:
I think I am swimming more slowly than in the fall! Better, more comfortably, more efficiently, much less gasping for air--but definitely slower, arghhh!
I guess it's partly because I haven't been to Monday-night swimming for while. I've got two sessions already paid for because left over from the last session, but I'm waiting to use them till I can do two weeks in a row, so that will be Feb. 11 and Feb. 18.
Depending on whether I really enjoy those or not, I will sign on for the next session of seven--it is very expensive ($50 a pop, for what's basically just a glorified freestyle workout--it is true it is very good, and very specific to my needs--but it partly only is worth it if I'm slotted in an appropriate lane with people who will push me, I was not enjoying it quite enough in November and December to make it seem worth it), and I am also committed to an early-morning workout schedule that makes swimming in midtown from 7:45-9:15pm on Monday nights a bit of a disaster for my life...
It's partly, I suppose, because of the nature of these morning workouts. I can swim quite a bit faster than I was swimming this morning, only I was splitting the lane (usually there are three of us and I am in the middle speed-wise, today just two and it was less irksome for the faster swimmer and less stressful for me for us to split!) and it leads to me basically ignoring times and just swimming at a comfortable pace.
The sad truth: I used my watch to time myself for the 200s (oh dear, this really is awfully slow, I am ashamed to confess it!), partly because I was pondering Wendy's lovely set of 8 x 200 descending 1-4 and I thought it would be worth getting a baseline super-comfortable time, i.e. time I could swim ten of 'em in a row on not much rest. So (I am dragging my heels on saying it, it is so slow...): 4:14, 4:18. (I was only taking maybe 10 seconds of rest, not a long one.)
I think the pacing was more even than that but that there was some button-pressing that added seconds to the second one. I am having self-reproach for not having swum 'em hard and got those times, because usually we're doing circle swim and not really having any rest, so I have kind of missed my chance.
(But hopefully at one of these Monday-night ones I will get a time for a hard 500--and in fact, now I think about it, probably I really just should do that next sequence of seven this spring, expense be damned, and then drop it after that, this timing would be best for the May race.)
On a brighter note, someone sent a funny e-mail to the CU triathlon team listserv yesterday--obviously kind but thoughtless relatives had given her a lot of triathlon equipment for Xmas that she either had already or did not want!--and for $20 I am going to get a brand-new-in-original-packaging Camel hydration pack. Despite nervousness about biking & bike-related things, anxieties about swim slowness, general mind-blowingness of doing a race that will be more than six hours, etc., really I think the great challenge on this May race is going to be nutrition and hydration (and pacing insofar as it affects those things), and I am set on taking this stuff much more seriously... I do not think I will be a confident enough bike-rider to drink out of bottles while riding, it will be better if I wear the water on my back!
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3 comments:
A. Lots of people would be thrilled with those times!
B. More comfortable more efficient swimming is exactly what you want for triathlon.
C. Good dril choices!
D. Button pushing? No pace clock?? ;-)
E. Gear!!!!!
A. Yes, I should not complain, really I must just be patient and keep working and I will slowly get faster!
B. Indeed...
C. Thanks!!! No time for the three strokes/kick, I will do that next time...
D. There is a pace clock, but really I only can use it for shorter swims or ones where I know the time in advance, it is too much of a strain on the feeble brain to pay attention to the MINUTE numbers as well as the SECOND numbers! i.e. for hundreds I can just remember the last 2 digits and figure the other one is predictable, only I was not so positive about doing that for 200s, what if I swam incredibly slowly and had 5:something instead of 4:something?!? Actually now I think I can use it--but there is an undoubted benefit of using the watch as a backup for a longer timed swim...
E. Gear! And even better, gear without shopping! (But I have Xmas present store credit at Jackrabbit Sports, I must get down there and get some stuff. What I really need is running tights without the ankle zipper, my ankles and calves are much too sturdy to fit comfortably into the zipper style, either the zipper is digging in or else it unzips itself--very drafty!)
I love my Camelback for the bike. Sometimes I will do training rides with water bottles, but I always have to slow down and sometimes they go flying. But apparently the general triathlon world isn't as enamored with Camelbacks - if I see three other people in a race with one, that would be a lot. So maybe I am missing something here! But I know I drink a lot more on the bike with it and I don't have to keep slowing down to do so, so it seems perfect!
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